


HIST 364: The Rise and Fall of the First Order

by urami



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Academia, Crack, Far Future, Gen, Research, Students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6261307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urami/pseuds/urami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on tfa-kink. </p><p>200 years after the destruction of Starkiller Base, the University of Yavin 4 offers a class called the Rise and Fall of the First Order, which attracts students with some, uh, interesting ideas about history. Exactly how evil was Leia Organa? Did Poe Dameron have an indecent relationship with BB-8? Was Dopheld Mitaka really the power behind the First Order? </p><p>Pity the poor professor who has to grade the term papers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HIST 364: The Rise and Fall of the First Order

Dr. Walap Telos groaned as his alarm shrieked in his ear. Today was his least favorite day of every semester- the day his HIST 364 students presented their research.  
  
When the University of Yavin 4 approached him about teaching a class on the rise and fall of the First Order, Dr. Telos had jumped at the chance. Ever since he was a boy, he'd been fascinated by that period of history. Growing up he'd watched holodramas featuring the heroics of such historical luminaries as General Organa, Poe Dameron, and Finn, the man who had broken First Order conditioning and became the first-ever Stormtrooper to defect. The man's actual heritage was still a mystery, even some 200 years later, and Dr. Telos had fondly imagined working on the lineage project. Maybe he would even be the one to solve a centuries-old historical mystery!  
  
And then he'd actually had to teach the class.  
  
That first semester he'd had mostly good, conscientious students... and the twins. Yana and Walthar Mitaka, direct descendants of Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka, a First Order officer. Oh sure, they always got great scores on their exams, and their research papers were detailed and impeccably sourced... but their main interest in the class was to push the idea that the First Order had done nothing wrong, and that the Resistance was the _true_ villain of history- and, of course, that their great-great-great grandfather had done nothing wrong. Yana's final paper had been titled _State Sponsored Terrorism: The New Republic and the Resistance_ , while her brother Walthar had written his paper on _Driven to Madness: Did Child Abuse Create Lord Kylo Ren?_.  
  
Both papers had been extremely well-written and well-researched, but that _content..._ Dr. Telos hadn't realized that there were actually people in this day and age that still were supporters of the First Order. But then again, they were the great-great-great grandchildren of a relatively high-ranking First Order officer. Who knew what they were learning from their family at home? The Mitaka clan was numerous and widespread- old Dopheld had gone on to have an absurd amount of children, it only made sense that some of his progeny would have tried to continue the old ways. It seemed that the twins were from one of those old-school Mitaka branches.  
  
And then he taught the same class the next semester.  
  
That time, he didn't have any Mitakas in his class, but he _did_ have a boy named Kylo, who, of course, wrote his paper all about the Knights of Ren and why they were the most efficient and effective political group of all time. There had also been a quiet, unassuming girl who rarely spoke in class discussions, who got mediocre scores on her exams, and whose final paper was less of a final paper and more of a love letter to General Brendol Hux II. Instead of focusing on the historical truths of what the general had done, the student had waxed poetic about his glorious coppery hair, his stunning eyes, and his strong physique. It was pretty clear that if she had been born 200 years earlier, she would have joined the First Order in order to attempt to snag a marriage proposal from the organization's most eligible bachelor. After grading that one, Dr. Telos felt like he needed a shower and a good hard drink.  
  
The third semester he taught the class, he didn't have any surprises. Well, there was that Hutt who seemed to have thought his people should have overthrown both the New Republic and the First Order and ruled the galaxy themselves, but the good professor could deal with that.  
  
Last semester had been possibly the most stressful of his career. A new student group calling themselves the Second Order had started up. Technically, it was supposed to be a group for students interested in historical reenactments of that time period, but in practice it ended up being a bunch of students who wanted to revive the First Order and conquer planets again.  
  
And they'd all ended up in his class. His class roster had several different Mitakas (all related, and all related to the historical Mitaka, of course), a girl named Phasma, a guy whose legal name was literally _Starkiller Tarkin_ , a guy who claimed his great-grandmother was Lila Ren, one of Kylo Ren's subordinates, a girl with the surname Snoke (which was _really_ disturbing to think about- after all, nobody had ever been able to disprove the existence of the Supreme Leader's supposed wife and children), and possibly most upsettingly, a descendant of Poe Dameron who'd clearly repudiated his ancestor's bravery and instead looked up to Brendol Hux II, going so far as to dye his naturally black hair a garish orange.  
  
That semester Dr. Telos had to grade 27 different research papers with titles like _Poe Dameron: Ace Pilot or Vicious Killer_ (that one had come from the man's descendant, of course), _Covering Up Mass Murder: The Truth About the Resistance_ , _Dopheld Mitaka: Our Galaxy's Founding Father_ , _General Hux and Kylo Ren: More Than Just Coworkers?_ , _An Analysis of Abnormalities in the Psychology of Finn the Stormtrooper_ , _Why Rey Kenobi Should Have Just Stayed on Jakku_ , and on and on in that vein.  
  
This semester, he didn't have nearly that many Second Order members in his class, but he still had a few, and he really wasn't sure that he wanted to see what they'd come up with this time. Dr. Telos didn't think he could take it if he had to grade something called _BB-8 and Poe Dameron: History's Most Scandalous Liaison_.

**Author's Note:**

> I legit was not sure how to tag this. I don't even know if this really even counts as a fic. But since I like having everything I wrote in one place I figured I'd put it here. 
> 
> I've also never taught a university class, but I do have an undergrad degree. And I did have to take a history course on the Axis Powers in WWII, and had to peer-edit people's papers. College students can write some weird shit, I tell you what. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
